STEM Institute

Your child will have more career opportunities, thanks to the St John’s STEM Institute.

St John's students learning how computers work with the Blueberry 4.

STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths, but it also involves a variety of other disciplines that ensure your child is better prepared for the career opportunities of the future.

Why STEM?

The Federal Government wants to replace the collapsing mining boom with a technological innovation boom and the St John’s STEM Institute will create suitable graduates for that boom.

In Australia, Chief Scientists are calling for STEM education to better engage students on STEM-related career pathways. Unfortunately, there is anationwide decrease in the number of students who take STEM subjects with Queensland seeing up to a 33% decrease in the number of students studying extension maths and mathematical science subjects.

At St John’s we actively encourage students to take STEM subjects and have high percentages of students choosing the mathematical sciences and extension maths subjects in senior.

The place to develop these skills and the desire for these subjects is at primary school where STEM is a principle focus.

St John’s is so excited by the opportunities STEM provides, we have established the STEM Institute.

The St John’s STEM Institute offers a wide range of engaging activities, special events and opportunities for primary and secondary students. That’s because every citizen needs an understanding of STEM to function in our highly technological society and to engage in social issues involving technology.Some STEM activities are also open to students at other schools as well as the community.

One of those was the fun and innovative “Squashed Tomatoes Challenge” where students solved the problem of delivering tomatoes to market intact.

The wining student invention was a program that helps brighten the mood of computer users by changing their screen colours. A pinnacle of our STEM activity was winning the Conrad Spirit of Innovation prize at NASA in Florida, the first time an Australian school has won the coveted award.

St John’s hosted its own school version of this worldwide competition when we stage an Innovation Summit at the College.

It was attended by the Minister for Innovation, Science and the Digital Economy, Leeanne Enoch and local business people were invited to be student mentors and judges.

The STEM Institute turns students into entrepreneurs by helping them create wonderful ideas and give them the skills to turn their ideas into action.

It helps your child become a problem solver which also makes him or her more resilient to the pressures of our fast-paced society.